Context is so important when it comes to understanding specific Scripture verses. But most preachers put little effort into studying the context themselves and so have little to pass along to their listeners.
It doesn't take much effort to reveal the unavoidable importance of context to comprehending a speaker's meaning.
Consider the following scenario:
You are looking over a transcript of a conversation I had with a friend and come across this sentence from me: "People are weasels. I don't trust anybody."
I said what I said.
Does it matter what the conversation as a whole was about?
You betcha.
Was the topic of the conversation my family ... or was it politics?
Either one shifts the meaning in a very specific direction.
The fascinating thing is, if you take those two sentences by themselves, they communicate something entirely different from what would be understood by reading them within either of those two possible contexts.
(P.S. My family is great.)
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